Release writer Sebastian Hess met up with Australian electronic pop act Parralox just as they were about to hit the stage and open for Erasure in London. Sebastian has followed the band very closely since their early days. He booked them for a concert in Sweden back in 2010 and also for the Electronic Summer festival in 2012. Being an avid supporter of hard working indie acts he couldn’t help feeling very happy seeing Parralox get a chance like this.
Talking to Iris
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Iris has been one of the best synthpop bands to come out of the US, and they’ve stayed on top for 15 years. After a 4 year hiatus following the last album ”Blacklight” they’re now back together and have recently released ”Radiant”, a worthy follow-up. We got in contact with Reagan Jones and Andrew Sega. [more...]
On December 13, the annual Malmö mini festival electriXmas is back after last year’s cancellation. We talked to one of the organisers, Andy Goodwin, about what happened last year, what made them come back, this year’s somewhat risky festival, future plans and much more.
Linea Aspera and Schwefelgelb were 2 of the most interesting electronic acts to emerge during the last years before they called it quits. Linea Aspera, that played a mix of synthpop and darkwave, with very strong lyrics, was just on the verge of a bigger break when they split up. Schwefelgelb on the other hand had a more punkish attityde, mixed with elements of NDW and EBM. Zoè Zanias and Sid Lamar were vocalists in each of these bands and about 2 years ago decided to start Keluar in Germany. [more...]
Amphi festival – interview about the scene, the past, present and future
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The gigantic black celebration that is Amphi Festival in Cologne is one of the most impressive and popular festivals for our music scene – and I am still excited after this year’s Amphi. Here is a long interview with the organizers about many interesting matters, for instance the state of the scene, the audience, why Amphi moves to a new festival ground, the lack of newcomers and what happened at this year’s fest. [more...]
Release meets Jimmy Somerville
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Sebastian Hess met up with icon Jimmy Somerville backstage at the Rewind Festival in Henley outside London. Jimmy Somerville first became famous in Bronski Beat in the early 80:s, then he went on to start The Communards and has also released several solo albums. In early 2015 his new disco album will be released. [more...]
It’s been way too long since the world was blessed with a Daily Planet album. The synthpop duo’s excellent debut album “The Tide” came out as far back as in 1996 and after that the Johan Baeckström and Jarmo Ollila ventured off to other projects like Jarmo’s Mr Jones Machine.
This year we finally got first the single “Trust/Fragile” and then the new album “Two”, so I contacted them to find out more about what has happened and what the future holds. They reveal that they are already working on a new album. [more...]
By: Sebastian Hess & Henrik Wittgren (Organizers of Electronic Summer & Winter festivals in Gothenburg)
In the aftermath of Alt-Fest we wanted to share our thoughts about organizing events and festivals. Especially how high-risk festivals without proper funding jeopardize every other event and festival in the scene. [more...]
The Swedish synthpop, industrial and alternative electronic label Progress Productions has been around for 10 years now. It’s grown into what must be the biggest Scandinavian label for these genres and most of the output with artists such as Necro Facility, Henric de la Cour, Kite and Spark has received high praise from both the record buyers and the music press such as Release. Progress has stayed true to its objectives and remained on its path for all this years, so we caught up with founder and label boss Torny Gottberg to commemorate the anniversary. [more...]
English industrial and electronic rock veterans Click Click started over 30 years ago. The unique band has now returned with their first proper album in 17 years: “Those Nervous Surgeons” on Dependent Records. A strong album that might also become their last. Mikael Kahrle booked an interview with 2 ”angry old men”: brothers Adrian and Derek E Smith. [more...]